Method of managing the recording of audiovisual documents in a terminal selected among a plurality of terminals, and an associated terminal

ABSTRACT

A communication network performs a method of managing recordings. The communication network comprises a plurality of audiovisual terminals furnished with recording means. The method comprises determining the most adapted terminal among the plurality for recording a specific document. Values of fit are calculated from attributes associated with the document and attributes associated with each terminal. The terminal whose value of fit is the greatest is selected and used for recording this document. The morality of the document and the maximum level of morality accessible from the terminal being compared in order to barre the recording of the document in a terminal if the morality level of this document is higher than the morality level of this terminal.

This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 365 ofInternational Application PCT/FR03100277, filed Jan. 30, 2003, which waspublished in accordance with PCT Article 21(2) on Aug. 7, 2003 inEnglish and which claims the benefit of French patent application No.9201567, filed Jan. 31, 2002.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method of managing recordings of audiovisualdocuments within audiovisual terminals connected together by a digitalcommunication network, and a recording device such as an audiovisual oraudio terminal designed to implement the method.

BACKGROUND

A digital communication network comprises installations linked togetherby a communication bus, for example the IEEE 1394 bus, using wires orwaves. The network of domestic type comprises, for example, thefollowing installations: terminals allowing the users to store andreproduce audiovisual documents, terminals allowing the users to viewaudiovisual documents, digital television receivers (a decoder forexample) capable of receiving audiovisual documents originating from atransmission network or from a point-to-point network (internet forexample), a device for storing the audiovisual documents (a videorecorder), a modem, etc. The list of the installations is notexhaustive. There may be several of each installation within thecommunication network, for example it is conceivable that, for adomestic communication network, each room of the residence has aterminal, that several receivers make it possible to receive documentsoriginating from several transmission networks, and that thecommunication network has several storage devices of different type, forexample a digital video recorder and a hard disk. The network can bemanaged in a centralized manner with the aid of a control installationor distributed, each installation having the possibility of controllingthe network alternately.

The documents that may be recorded possess attributes which define theirsize, their type (audiovisual, audio, executable program, etc), theirtopic (film, documentary, news, advertisement, etc) and sometimes asubtopic for certain topics (in the case of a film: action, romance,adventure, horror, cast list, etc.).

The digital communication network allows the users and the applicationsto share resources within a residence. These resources may be classedaccording to the fact that they store information, or that they usestored information. The sharing of the resources poses problems relatingto the transfers of information through the network and the occupancy ofthe available bandwidth.

Let us assume for example that a user invokes the viewing of a documentrecorded on a storage facility situated in another room, and that atthis moment the network is overloaded, the user will not be able to seehis audiovisual document correctly.

Patent Application EP1 161 087 describes the reception and the storageof an audiovisual document within appliances linked by a network. Thestorage appliance is determined as a function of data introduced by theuser associating a certain type of audiovisual document with one or moreappliances. However, this system requires the intervention of the userto program such associations, this necessitating manual operations.

The present invention allows better optimization of the storage spacedistributed between the various installations of a network, and improvedusage of the bandwidth of the network by decreasing the number of datatransfers. The present invention thus makes it possible to optimize theuse of the recording devices connected in a network. Moreover, thepresent invention avoids the need for the user to indicate the storageappliance upon each receipt of a new document.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention consists of a method of managing recordings ofaudio or audiovisual documents within a communication network comprisinga plurality of audiovisual terminals furnished with recording means,characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

-   -   a) calculation of a value representing the fit concerning the        recording between the document and a terminal;    -   b) repetition of step a) by calculating a value of fit for each        terminal;    -   c) selection of the installation for recording the document        whose value of fit is greatest.

In this way, the network searches for the installation most suitable forrecording the document as a function of criteria associated with thedocument and of criteria associated with the installation. This fitavoids certain transfers since the document can be read directly fromthe installation, therefore globally it decreases the transfer times andoptimizes resources. The criteria associated with the document areeither transmitted with it or calculated dynamically at the terminallevel.

According to an improvement, the calculation of the value of fit takesinto account the topic of the audiovisual document and the topic of thedocuments generally selected by the users of the terminal. According toan improvement, the calculation of fit takes into account the type ofdocument and prevents recording when the types are different. Accordingto another improvement, the calculation of fit takes into account thesize of the audiovisual document and the average size of the documentsthat are stored in the terminal, the installation in which the averagesize of the documents corresponds to that of the document is used in aprivileged manner.

According to another improvement, the calculation of fit takes intoaccount the size of the audiovisual document and the transfer data rateof the terminal, and the storage of the small files in the terminalswhich have a slow data rate is privileged. According to anotherimprovement, the calculation of fit takes into account the morality ofthe audiovisual document and the maximum level of morality of thedocuments accessible from the terminal, the installation in which themaximum level of morality of the documents is less than that of thedocument to be recorded is used in a privileged manner.

According to another improvement, each terminal possesses a list ofattributes constituting a type profile of the user for this terminal,the attributes of this list are the attributes of the documentsgenerally ordered by users on this terminal and reproduced by thisterminal. According to another improvement, this list is modifiablemanually by a user of this terminal.

According to another improvement, when an installation is connected tothe network, a transfer of at least one document is effected to this newinstallation when the values of fit for this new installation are betterthan those calculated for any other installation.

A subject of the invention is also an audiovisual terminal furnishedwith means for recording audio or audiovisual documents, characterizedin that the terminal comprises a means for calculating a valuerepresenting the fit between a document to be recorded and the terminal,the recording means being activated or otherwise so as to record thisdocument according to the value calculated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention willemerge from the description of the exemplary embodiments that willfollow, taken by way of no limiting examples, with reference to theappended figures, in which:

FIG. 1 represents a diagram of a domestic network in which the inventionis implemented;

FIG. 2 represents a flowchart for the execution of the various steps ofthe method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A digital communication network according to a present exemplaryembodiment is described in FIG. 1. This network comprises for examplethe following installations:

-   -   a decoder STB comprising a processing unit (μP2), a memory (M2)        for storing audiovisual documents, a tuner and a demultiplexer        DEMUX2 making it possible to receive documents sent over a        transmission network, and a connection with a television screen        TV1. This assembly is placed in a room P1 of the house, the        kitchen for example.    -   an interactive television screen TV2, furnished with an        alphanumeric keypad K2, and connected to a video recorder VCR2,        the whole being able to serve as terminal so as to introduce        commands into the network. This assembly is placed in a room P2        of the house, the living room for example.    -   an audiovisual system comprising a processing unit UC3, a        program memory M3, and a hard disk of large capacity for storing        audiovisual documents, or images. A central unit is also        connected to a television screen TV3. This assembly is placed in        a room P3 of the house, the parents' bedroom for example. A        similar assembly can also be set up in the children's' bedroom.    -   a video recorder accessible only through the network.    -   A HIFI deck (not represented) comprising a processing unit, a        hard disk for storing audio documents only (in MP3 file form for        example), as well as a restitution unit making it possible to        listen to the audio documents.    -   A modem (not represented): allowing the network to access an        external network, internet for example, through a telephone        link.

All these installations are linked together by a digital bus using forexample the IEEE 1394 standard.

The network also comprises a management system which constantlyinterrogates the various installations and can thus ascertain theirstate of availability. As we shall detail hereinafter, the system formanaging requests for executing recordings determines which storagefacility is responsible for receiving the recording. The determinationof the choice of the installation is made as a function of variouscriteria dependent on the audiovisual document and/or on the storageinstallation. According to the mode of management of the network, themanagement system is not located at the same place. If management isdistributed, it is located in the form of a program duplicated in eachinstallation. Each installation is furnished with an identifier ID (forexample, the “node ID” allocated by the manager of the IEEE 1394 bus).If the management of the network is of centralized type, the networkmanager is embodied as a central unit (for example the UC3) controllingthe communications over the network and certain functions of the variousinstallations. These functions are executed by dispatching orders.

The decoder STB receives digital data sent by a satellite. The digitalcontent of these data is, for example, images in the MPEG format,constituting audiovisual documents. For example, the data received areformatted according to the DVB standard established by ETSI (“EuropeanTelecommunications Standards Institute”) published in September 1997under the reference EN300 468—V1.3.1 or under the referenceREN/JTC-00DVB-43. The attributes of the documents are contained inservice information. This service information is defined by the DVB-SI(“Digital Video Broadcast—specification for Service Information”). Theservice information may also originate from other sources, for examplefrom a server accessible via the internet. The means for receiving thedocuments are: a tuner, a CD player, DVD, magnetic cartridge or quitesimply a video recorder, a modem for connection with an externalnetwork. The documents are stored either in the hard disk of the decoderor with the aid of a digital video recorder in magnetic tape cassettes,or in high-capacity electronic memories, of FLASH type, for example.Once stored the documents are referenced as file identified by anidentifier so that the network management system can find them easily.The files occupy a memory size according to their type: image (a fewtens or hundreds of Kbytes per image), audio (mp3, a few Mbytes perfile) or video (a few tens or hundreds of Mbytes per file). The data arethen read from the recording device, forwarded via the digital networkand viewed on television screens, or listened to with the aid of audiomeans.

The present invention makes it possible in particular to determine thestorage facility as a function of various criteria that are or are notdependent on the document to be recorded such as:

-   -   Capacity of each storage facility.    -   Data rate of recording and of reading of the storage facilities.    -   Available size of each storage facility.    -   Average size of the documents stored in the storage facility.    -   Size of the document (that is to say: size of the file).    -   Type of the content of the document (image, audio, video, etc.)    -   Other attributes of the document (topic, morality, etc.)    -   User profile of the storage facility

This list is not limiting.

To assign a storage facility to each new document to be stored, thesystem must be continuously au fait with the state of the network, andwith the installations of which it is composed. Next, the networkmanages a table associating the identifier of the document recorded withthe location where it is recorded, that is to say the identifier of thestorage facility, in such a way that a read request is addressed to theright facility. The updating of this table (as well as the sitting ofthe corresponding file) is:

-   -   static: the table is updated at each recording. Once a document        has been stored at a place, it will no longer move, unless the        user intervenes explicitly through direct manipulation.    -   or dynamic: the system searches for optimization continuously.        It will move files so as to take account of the new data. It        does this without disturbing the normal operation of the        network.

The management system (be it centralized or distributed) definesaccording to a strategy that storage facility on which a document shouldbe recorded. The strategy takes into account several aspects which eachuse one or more criteria listed above. These various aspects make itpossible to optimize storage, the system selects the facility whichsatisfies the most possible aspects. The system can also decide that anaspect prevents storage in a given facility, regardless of the otheraspects.

A first aspect consists in considering that the file should not befragmented (or be so as little as possible). Let us assume for examplethat the user has two 100 Gbytes storage facilities on his network, thefirst being 80% full (i.e. 20 Gbytes free) and the second 90% full (i.e.10 Gbytes free). When the system has to record a document 15 Gbytes insize, it will not fragment it into 10 Gbytes for the first facility and5 Gbytes for the second. The system will decide to store a single blockin the second facility which will then be 95% occupied. In this way, ifone of the installations of the network develops a fault, effectivelyall the contents located therein are no longer available, but no contentavailable on another installation is affected by this fault.

A second aspect consists in storing the documents as a function of theplace where they will thereafter be used. According to this aspect, whensetting up a new storage facility, the user indicates its sitting to thesystem by assigning an attribute such as: Kitchen, Lounge, Parents'bedroom, the child Georges' bedroom, the child Isabelle's bedroom, etc.A predefined list of attributes is associated with this identifier. Forexample, the lounge appliance makes it possible to view films, series,the news, etc while the appliance in Georges' bedroom shows cartoons andreproduces techno music. In this way, the system is taught the customaryusage of each installation, and can deduce there from the installationwhere a new audiovisual document has most chance of being used. Thissubsequently makes it possible to avoid transfers and to occupy thebandwidth of the network. The use of a document depends on severalfactors. A first factor lies in the capacities of the storage facility.For example: if the network has a single HIFI deck furnished with astorage means, it is preferable to record all the files of audio typedirectly therein since it is certainly from this installation that suchdocuments will be read. In this case, the system analyzes the “TYPE”attribute of the document and decides that such documents are stored ina privileged manner in installations that are designed to reproduce onlydocuments of this type. A second factor relates to the topic of thedocument to be recorded: if this document relates to a video showing howto prepare a dish, by giving in particular a recipe, the systemdetermines that the best place to store the document is the facilitysituated in the kitchen (on condition that it comprises a hard disk anda screen). A third factor consists in taking into account the moralityattribute of the video document to be recorded. If, for example the userhas assigned a level of morality to the installations of the network,certain documents have to be barred from recording since their moralitylevels are incompatible with that of certain storage facilities. Forexample, the system receives a document whose morality attributeindicates that it is not “for all ages”, this document cannot be storedin the children' bedroom, but rather in the parents' bedroom. Access tothe storage facility of the parents' bedroom must be controlled by apassword. Once the document has been stored in this facility, the user,from where he is in the house, must present the password to be able toread this document.

A simple means for determining the place of storage consists in thesystem taking account of the user profile associated with each storagefacility. If the user is for example accustomed to consulting cookeryrecipes from the kitchen television set, the user profile associatedwith this facility comprises the “gastronomy” attribute. When a documenthaving this topic or a synonym as attribute, is forwarded to thedomestic network so as to be stored therein, the network managementsystem determines that the place of storage is the kitchen televisionset. In order to better calculate the value of fit between theattributes of a document and the storage criteria associated with aninstallation, the system uses a dictionary making it possible todetermine the synonyms between several attributes and storage criteria.For example, the kitchen installation is associated with “gastronomy”,the sense of which is close to the term “cookery recipe” which is anattribute of a document. The value of fit calculated is a maximum whenthe terms are identical and decreases as their senses diverge.

Another example: let us assume that the document is an audio file of the“techno” genre, the place of storage is the HIFI deck in the bedroom ofthe child who listens to this type of music most often. The user profileof the installation in this bedroom is closer to the topic of thedocument to be recorded than the user profile of the installationsituated in the parents' bedroom (their tastes being presumed to be more“classical”). The management system can take account of other types ofattributes: the producer of films or the authors of audio works, thecast of a film, etc. The user profile can also take account of theinformation regarding the authors of the document. For example, an audiodocument made by a performer who is very much in vogue at present suchas “Britney Spears” is recorded in the HIFI deck of Isabelle's bedroom,on the other hand the system for managing the recordings chooses theHIFI deck of the parents to store a musical work by “Miles Davis”.

By taking this second aspect into account it is possible to limit thetransfers of files and hence to Make best use of the bandwidth of thenetwork. In this way, the system can direct the documents which arriveautomatically such as: emails, services, interactive applications, etcas a function of the most appropriate rooms. For example, anadvertisement relating to a food product is recorded in the kitchen, anda promotion regarding the rental of a film is recorded in theaudiovisual appliance of the lounge.

A third aspect consists in taking account of the transfer times (read orwrite) associated with the storage facilities, and the average size ofthe files stored inside them. These facilities have input output meanswhich limit the information data rate to a greater or lesser extent. Ingeneral, it is advisable to store small files on slow storage facilitieswhereas big files can be stored on faster storage facilities. The datarate of the installation thus defined may alter over time, for example,a hard disk which is already occupied in reading files has its bandwidthlimited so as to record a big file at the same time. On account of itsslow data rate, it is preferable for it to record only small files thatrequire less bandwidth.

Certain storage facilities possess management which favors the storageof small files. For example, these facilities contain elementary unitsof 1 Kbytes referenced by descriptors, this being the case for harddisks. If one wants to store a 10 Mbytes file, the management systemwill update 10000 descriptors, which will require a long processingtime. On the other hand, if the storage facility is a video recorder, itsuffices to manage the start and the end of the tape counter in order tolocate the document perfectly. Another example: the facility containselementary units of 1 Mbyte, in this case, the storage of a document ofa few tens of kilobytes causes some space to be lost. These examplesshow that each storage facility possesses an attribute relating to theaverage size of the documents that can be stored therein. Threeattribute values are defined: small document (up to 100 Kbytes), mediumdocument (from 100 Kbytes to 10 Mbytes), big document (more than 10Mbytes).

It should be noted that, despite appreciable scatter of the documents,they nevertheless remain accessible from any point of the house.

An improvement to the embodiment described consists in automaticallydeleting the documents (that is to say the files in the storagefacilities) as soon as the remaining space is insufficient to store anew document. To do this, the system maintains a cue whereby the lastaccess to each document can be date-stamped. If at the time of arecording, the remaining space becomes insufficient, then the systemoffers the user a list containing the documents to which accesses arefurthest away in time, and offers to erase them. A variant consists inthe system automatically erasing the document access to which is leastrecent, and begins again until the space thus freed is sufficient tostore the document. Another variant consists in the network having anarchiving unit (of large capacity, but with slow access, for example amagnetic cartridge reader). The system can automatically transfer thefiles to which accesses are the least recent into this archiving unit.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the conduct of the method according to anexemplary embodiment. The example describes an embodiment with the aidof a HAVI type network, the system for managing the recordings being inthe form of a program duplicated in the installations of the networkwhich are furnished with a means of storage.

When a new document arrives over the network so as to be stored therein,the network management program is invoked. The “i” installations of thenetwork are denoted APPi, each of the installations possesses a list ofattributes such as its type (Type.APPi), its level of morality(morality.APPi) and its total storage capacity, the size of the memorythat is still free, etc. In step 2.1, the program begins to analyze thefirst installation by assigning the value “1” to the variable i. Todetermine whether the document can be recorded in installation i, theprogram uses a table SCORE(i) whose values evaluate the fit between theinstallation APPi and the document. At the start SCORE(i) is set to 0(step 2.2). Each value SCORE(i) constitutes a value of fit between thedocument and the terminal APPi.

The first test (step 2.3) consists in verifying that the document havingregard to its size can be recorded in the installation APPi. If this isnot the case, the program jumps to step 2.4 which assigns the negativevalue −1 to SCORE(i), this value reflecting the impossibility of storingthis document in this installation. If the remaining size is sufficient,the second test (step 2.5) consists in evaluating whether the totalstorage capacity of installation APPi is compatible with the size of thedocument. This test evaluates whether the installation APPi that allowsthe storage of small or big recordings in a privileged manner is indeedthat which is necessary according to the size of the document to bestored. If such is the case, the program adds in step 2.6 the value 10to SCORE(i). Then the program goes to the third test (step 2.7) whichverifies whether the type of the document is indeed compatible with theinstallation. If, for example, the document is audiovisual and if thestorage facility can record audio only, recording will be impossible. Ifthis is not compatible, the program jumps to step 2.4 which assigns thenegative value −1 to SCORE(i) which signifies the impossibility of thisdocument being stored in this storage facility. Otherwise in step 2.8,the program compares the types of the installation and that of thedocument, for example a VCR is designed to record an audiovisualdocument, the type of such an installation corresponds indeed to that ofan audiovisual document. When the types are identical, the program jumpsto step 2.9 and adds the value 10 to SCORE(i).

The fourth step (step 2.10) relates to that of morality, the programcompares the morality index of the document with that of theinstallation i. The bigger the index, the narrower the public concerned.If the document is intended for users who can use this installationthen, the program jumps to step 2.11, and adds the value 10 to SCORE(i).Accessibility should be in the broad sense, a user being able to accessa storage facility remotely via the network.

The fifth test (step 2.12) makes it possible to evaluate the similaritybetween the document to be recorded and the attributes of the list ofattributes recorded in the memory of the terminal. If the topic of thedocument is compatible with the attributes of the document then, in step2.13, the program counts up the number of attributes whose sense isclose to that of the words constituting the topic of the document. Asmany units are added to the value SCORE(i) as there are similaritiesbetween the words constituting the topic, and the words contained in thelist of attributes of the terminal. For example, let us assume that thedocument relates to a recipe for cooking a Mexican dish, and that thelist of attributes of the terminal APPi contains: {GASTRONOMY, MEXICO,ETC. . . . }, two units are added to the value of fit SCORE(i).According to an improvement, the addition of a unit can be endowed witha coefficient, 5, for example, in which case SCORE(i) is increased by10.

The program reaches the end of the calculation of the value representingthe fit between a document and a storage facility, the programthereafter determines whether other installations still remain to beevaluated (step 2.14). If such is the case, it jumps to step 2.15 whichincrements the index 1 and goes back to step 2.2 to sequence the varioustests on the next installation. Otherwise, all the installations of thenetwork possessing a means of storage have been evaluated; the one whichis most appropriate for recording this document is the installationwhose value SCORE(i) is highest (step 2.16). The program therefore scansthe SCORE array, determines the highest value, deduces the index i therefrom and evokes, in step 2.17, the recording on installation APPi.

Annex 1 contains an example program written in pseudo-code for carryingout an exemplary embodiment.

Annex 2 contains an example program written in pseudo-code for carryingout another exemplary embodiment, more complete and more global.

The production of a user profile associated with each storage facilityis carried out during a learning phase. This phase consists in storingthe attributes of the documents stored directly by the users of eachinstallation. As soon as a sufficient number of attributes is associatedwith an installation, the management system considers that it isassociated with a user profile and will use the group of attributes asstorage criteria. At any moment, each manual intervention by a user onan installation enriches the user profile of said installation.

It should be clearly noted in the present invention that the profile isassociated with an installation regardless of its users. In fact, themanagement system formulates a type profile of the user associated withan installation. To gain time during the learning phase, or to tailorthe user profile of the storage facility, it is possible to modify thedata thus record and add (or erase) attributes. The term “document” alsocomprises interactive applications, for example a wake-up program isstored in the parents' bedroom in priority and possibly in the otherbedrooms. A background music generator that can be adjusted is perfectlyapt for the lounge since this is the most suitable place for its use.

Another improvement consists in taking into account the introduction ofa new installation into the network. This installation is immediatelydetected by the system which reads off the characteristics thereof. Ifrelevant, the system can automatically evoke transfers of documents forstorage in the new installation, should the latter turn out to be moresuitable than others already set up to use them. For example, thearrival of a new audiovisual assembly in the lounge, furnished with aHIFI deck but no screen, brings about the transfer of a certain part ofthe audio files into this new assembly. It is in fact probable that suchdocuments are listened to in a privileged manner on the newly set upappliance.

The exemplary embodiments of the invention that were presented abovewere chosen for their concrete nature. It would, however, not bepossible to exhaustively catalogue all the embodiments covered by thisinvention. In particular, any step or any means described may bereplaced with an equivalent step or means without departing from theframework of the present invention.

ANNEX I document Attributes = selectedDocument.getAttributes( )  //attributes of the document to be stored device List =getStorageDeviceList( )  // list of storage installations available onthe network device = deviceList.FirstElement( )   // first of the listwhile (device) {   // while there are installations    // Check ifremaining capacity is sufficient  if (documentAttributes.size >device.remainingCapacity ) {    score[device] = −1 // this installationcannot store the document:score = −1  }  // Check regarding the contentsize  if (score[device] != −1) {    if (documentAttributes.size is small&& (device.capacity is small)) {      score[device] = score[device] + 10 // both of small size    }    if (documentAttributes.size is big &&(device.capacity is big)) {      score[device] = score[device] + 10  //both of small size    }  }  // Check regarding the content type  if(score[device] != −1) {    if (documentAttributes.type is not compatiblewith device.type) {      score[device] = −1  // e.g.: store a video onan mp3 recorder    }    if (documentAttributes.type is audio && (device.type is audio)) {      score[device] = score[device] + 10  // both ofsmall size    }  }  // Check regarding the content morality  if(score[device] != −1) {    if (documentAttributes.morality is compatiblewith (device.userSelectedMorality)) {      score[device] =score[device] + 10  // both of small size    }  }  device =deviceList.NextElement } i = getIndexOfBiggestValue(score[ ])electedStorageDevice = deviceList.getElement(i)  electedStorageDevice.Record(document)         // make the recording

ANNEX II // The process for a recording is the following //================================= // Step 1: The user chooses thedocument document = .... // Step 2: The system tries to find the mostappropriate storage device electedStorageDevice =chooseOptimalStorageDevice(document) // Step 3: When optimal storagedevice has not been found, then ask the user to choose if(electedStorageDevice is null) {  electedStorageDevice = ....... // asksfor user choice (manual) } // Step 4: and finally asks for recordingelectedStorageDevice.Record(document) //============================================ // The process for thedynamic part is following //============================================ // For each device, checkfor each document if the current device is the optimal one // If not,then move the document to the optimal storage device. // This processruns forever. while (true) {  deviceList = network.getStorageDeviceList device = deviceList.FirstElement( )  while (device) {    documentList =device.getDocumentList( )    document = documentList.FirstElement( )   while (document) {      // Look if current location is optimal     optimalDevice = chooseOptimalStorageDevice(document)      if(optimalDevice is not optimalDevice) {moveDocument(device.getDocument(document), optimalDevice)      }     document = documentList.NextElement( )    }    device =deviceList.NextElement  } } //============================================ // The following methodallows to determine which // is the optimal storage device to host the// given document // ============================================function chooseOptimalStorageDevice(Document selectedDocument) { documentAttributes = selectedDocument.getAttributes( )  // attributesof the document to be stored  deviceList = network.getStorageDeviceList()      // list of the storage installations available on the network device = deviceList.FirstElement( )  // first of the list  while(device) { // while there are installations    // Check if remainingcapacity is sufficient    if (documentAttributes.size >device.remainingCapacity ) {      score[device] = −1 // thisinstallation cannot store the document: score = −1    }    // Checkregarding the content size    if (score[device] != −1) {      // bothare small size      if (documentAttributes.size is small &&(device.capacity is small)) {        score[device] = score[device] + 10       }      // both are big size      if (documentAttributes.size isbig && (device.capacity is big)) {        score[device] =score[device] + 10        }    }    // Check regarding the content type   if (score[device] != −1) {      // e.g.: store a video on a mp3recorder      if (documentAttributes.type is not compatible withdevice.type) {        score[device] = −1        }      // same type     if (documentAttributes.type is same as device.type)) {       score[device] = score[device] + 10        }    }    // Checkregarding the content morality    if (score[device] != −1) {      if(documentAttributes.morality is compatible with(device.userSelectedMorality)) {        score[device] = score[device] +10      }    }    // Check regarding the genre    if (score[device] !=−1) {      // e.g.: Movies are most viewed on the living room tv      ifdevice.attributeIsTop10(Genre, document.genre) {      score[device] =score[device] + 20      }    }    // Check regarding the artist    if(score[device] != −1) {      // e.g.: Britney Spears is most used on thekids hifi      if device.attributeIsTop10(Artist, document.artist) {       score[device] = score[device] + 30        }    }    // Check forstreaming vs downloading    if (score[device] != −1) {      // preferuse of high rate storage device for download      if (document isdownloaded && device has highDataRate) {        score[device] =score[device] + 15        }    }    device = deviceList.NextElement  } // and the winner is...  i = getIndexOfBiggestValue(score[ ])  if (i isvalid) {    // an optimal storage device has been found for the givendocument    return deviceList.getElement(i)  } else {    // no optimalstorage device has been found for the given document    return null  } }// ============================================ // The following methodimplements a minimal user profile on the current device // It is calledeach time that a content has been viewed/listened // more than half ofits duration (to be considered as a valid selection, not a zapping) //It is a simple model of user profile, establishing one table per type ofattribute // and giving a score to each attribute value // It assumesthat we have infinite memory;=(( //============================================ functiondocumentHasBeenConsulted(Document selectedDocument) {  incrementType[selectedDocument.type]  increment Genre[selectedDocument.genre] increment Morality[selectedDocument.morality]  incrementArtist[selectedDocument.artist] } //==================================================== // The followingmethod checks if the given attribute // is well ranked on the device (inthe 10% top consulted) // e.g.: attributeIsTop10(Artist, Britney Spears)//    will return true on the kid's hifi set //  will return false onthe kitchen TV // ====================================================function attributeIsTop10(DocumentAttributeType attType,DocumentAttributeValue attValue) {  top10list =device.getTop10List(attType)  if (attValue is in top10list) {    returntrue  { else {    return false  }

1. A method of managing recordings of audio or audiovisual documentswithin a communication network comprising a plurality of audiovisualterminals furnished with recording means, the audiovisual documents tobe recorded and the terminals being associated with attributes; themethod comprising: introducing by a user of a maximum level of moralityaccessible from a terminal, calculating a value of fit between thedocument and a terminal; the value of fit being calculated by comparingthe attributes of the audiovisual document and the attributes associatedwith the audiovisual terminal, the value of fit being all the higher thegreater the similarity between these attributes, the morality of thedocument and the maximum level of morality accessible from the terminalbeing compared; in order to bar the recording of the document in aterminal if the morality level of this document is higher than themorality level of this terminal repeating the step calculating bycalculating a value of fit for each terminal liable to record it andtaking into account the morality level; selecting the terminal forrecording the document whose value of fit is greatest; and recording ofthe document in the selected terminal.
 2. The method of managingrecordings as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of calculatingcomprises a step of comparing between the topic of the audiovisualdocument and the topic of the documents customarily accessible on thisterminal.
 3. The method of managing recordings as claimed in claim 1,wherein the step of calculating comprises a step of comparing betweenthe type of the audiovisual document such as audio audiovisual photo andthe type or types of documents that are generally reproduced with theaid of the terminal.
 4. The method of managing recordings as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the step of calculating comprises a step of comparingbetween the size of the audiovisual document and an installation inwhich the average size of the documents is very different from that ofthe document not selected in step of selecting.
 5. The method ofmanaging recordings as claimed in claim 1, wherein the attributescompared in the step of calculating relates to the size of theaudiovisual document and the transfer data rate of the terminal, and inthe step of selecting the terminal, a terminal having a data rategreater than a determined value is selected in a privileged manner forthe recording of an audiovisual document of small size.
 6. The method ofmanaging recordings as claimed in claim 1, wherein a list of attributesis associated with each terminal, the attributes of said list being theattributes of the documents generally ordered by users on this terminaland reproduced by this terminal.
 7. The method of managing recordings asclaimed in claim 6, wherein the attributes list associated with theterminal is modifiable by a user.
 8. The method of managing recordingsas claimed in claim 1, wherein, when a new terminal is introduced intothe network, a transfer of at least one document is effected to this newterminal when the values of fit calculated in the step of calculatingfor this new terminal are better than those calculated for any otherterminal.
 9. The audiovisual terminal furnished with means for recordingaudio or audiovisual documents and connected to a communication network,the documents to be recorded being associated with attributescharacterizing them, the terminals being associated with attributesrelating to their characteristics and/or their uses; wherein theterminal comprises a means for introducing by a user of a maximum levelof morality accessible from the terminal, a means for calculating avalue representing the fit between a document to be recorded and theterminal, the value of fit being calculated by comparing the attributesof the audiovisual document and the attributes associated with theterminal, the value of fit being all the higher the greater thesimilarity between these attributes, the morality of the document andthe maximum level of morality accessible from the terminal beingcompared in order to bar the recording of the document in the terminalif the morality level of this document is higher than the morality levelof the terminal, the recording means being activated or otherwise so asto record this document according to the value calculated and if themorality level allows the recording in the terminal.
 10. The audiovisualterminal as claimed in claim 9, wherein the means of comparison comparesthe size of the audiovisual document and the average size of thedocuments customarily stored in the terminal, the recording means beingactivated in a privileged manner if the size of the audiovisual documentlies in an interval defining the minimum size and the maximum size ofthe documents that can be recorded in the terminal.
 11. The audiovisualterminal as claimed in claim 9, wherein the means of comparison comparesthe size of the audiovisual document to be recorded and the transferdata rate of the terminal, the means of recording of an terminal havinga data rate greater than a determined value being activated in aprivileged manner if the size of the audiovisual document is less than adetermined size value.
 12. The audiovisual terminal as claimed in claim9, wherein it comprises a memory comprising a list of attributes, theattributes of said list being the attributes of the documents generallyordered by users on this terminal and reproduced by this terminal. 13.The audiovisual terminal as claimed in claims 12, wherein it comprises ameans of modification by a user of the list of attributes.
 14. Theaudiovisual terminal as claimed in claim 9, wherein the means ofcalculation is activated automatically upon the introduction of a newterminal into the network, and in that it comprises a means fordownloading a document to the new terminal when the value of fitcalculated by the means of calculation for this document and this newterminal is higher than the values calculated for any other terminal.